Automobiles provide transportation for many people. Because of the use of automobiles for transportation, parking is needed at many places where people may visit to conduct business, such as office buildings, businesses, shopping malls, and transportation hubs, such as airports. Parking is generally provided at these places in the form of a parking area or a parking lot. Some streets also have parking areas, typically in the form of parking spaces along the side of the street. The parking area or lot can be of varying size, ranging from a few parking spaces to thousands of spaces. The parking lot may span a single level or multiple levels, both above and below ground, such as a parking garage. Finding a parking space in a large parking lot can be frustrating and take time, particularly if the parking lot is very large and located at a popular area with a high traffic volume, i.e., a lot of automobiles. Finding parking on a street, especially in a busy area, can also be particularly difficult. Indeed, many times parking can only be found at a significant distance from a person's destination. Therefore, remembering where one's automobile is parked can be a daunting task, especially if one's automobile is parked in a very large lot, e.g., at an airport. This problem may be compounded if the automobile is in a parking the parking area for an extended period of time, i.e., a person parks an automobile and leaves on a trip.
Further, parking lots may charge money for parking. Payment in large parking lots, such as parking garage or a surface lot an airport, may be completed by paying an attendant in a booth at an exit of the parking lot. Completing the payment can take time, especially in large parking lots, since a bottleneck may form at the exit, if, for example, only a few payment booths are available and many automobiles are attempting to exit concurrently.
Street parking and some parking lots may use meters to collect payment. The meter may only allow payment for a limited amount of time based on prevailing parking regulations for the area, e.g., 2 hours maximum. In order to extend the time past the designated limit, an individual must physically go to the meter and redeposit the appropriate amount. Many street parking spaces now use centralized meters that allow the use of a credit card to pay, however the same limitations regarding parking time may still exist.
These and other embodiments and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the various exemplary embodiments.